


Maggie

by TanyaReed



Category: Leverage
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s01e13 The Second David Job, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-06-09 17:19:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19480501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanyaReed/pseuds/TanyaReed
Summary: A little Maggie and Sophie scene that takes place after "The Second David Job".





	Maggie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Guinevak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Guinevak/gifts).



> To Guinevak: I'm not sure if this is what you had in mind, but this is the scene that immediately came into my head when I read your prompt/request. I hope you like it.

The mansion was quiet at night. With everyone gone to bed, the emptiness of the rooms was something physical—you could hear it; you could almost touch it. 

Sophie shivered as she made her way down the stairs on silent, stockinged feet. So many things were banging around in her head that she couldn't sleep.

It was her own fault, really. Her own weakness. She knew it, but that didn't stop her from resenting the way the others had so easily turned their backs on her. Especially Eliot, when he was the one who should understand most of all.

She was not perfect. She'd never claimed to be. She'd never even claimed to be honest. The bottom line was she'd betrayed her friends, and that had hurt them. She should have known it would. And they'd hurt her back.

The thoughts had tumbled around and around until finally she'd decided a walk in the fresh night air might do her good. Hardison's mansion was far from the road, and she knew she wouldn't be disturbed.

As she was slipping through the dark towards the front door, a glimmer of light caught her attention. Sophie paused, trapped between curiosity and a desire for solitude. In the end, curiosity won, and she padded down the hallway to investigate.

The light was coming from one of the rooms they had used to plan the con that brought down Ian Blackpoole. Sitting with her back to the door was one of the people Sophie really hadn't wanted to see. Maggie. Taking revenge on Blackpoole had ripped open old wounds for her, and Sophie was uncomfortable with someone who was so honestly open with her pain. Someone who was so honestly open with anything.

Maggie was in the house because she had insisted on coming back to have a real conversation with Nate. It had lasted late into the night, and both of them had looked ragged and torn when they'd emerged afterwards. Hardison had immediately offered her a bed for the night. Most of the rest of the house was starkly empty, but he'd known he'd someday have to use the place as a hideout and furnished the bedrooms. He'd even replaced some of the toilets.

Sophie stood at the door, watching Maggie and wondering if she should leave her with her pain. She wanted to offer comfort, but she had no idea how. Of course, she could put on a character, don one like a coat, but that seemed wrong somehow. The problem was, she didn't have much experience doing it as herself.

“You can come in.” Maggie's voice floated to her, and Sophie realized her reflection was in the window.

Feeling foolish, she almost turned to go, but something stopped her. She hesitated just a moment before approaching the small couch that Maggie was sitting on.

Maggie was staring out the window, though it was too dark to see anything, and hugging a pillow to her chest. She didn't even look at Sophie, so Sophie just settled quietly down beside her, clasping her hands in her lap and reaching for something to say. It was harder than it should have been.

Finally, she ventured, “That was some right hook.”

Maggie glanced at her then, her blue eyes looking broken. “I wish I could have hit him harder.”

Sophie nodded, disturbed that her attempt at humour had fallen flat.

Maggie swallowed and added softly, “It's like losing him all over again.”

She put her hand gently on Maggie's forearm but didn't reply.

“Why is Nate so stupid?”

“Because he's a man?” Sophie offered.

“He should have told me. He should have...”

“That's how he is, though. Stubborn. Taking the whole world on his shoulders. He thought he was protecting you.”

Maggie let go of a strangled sound that might have been a pained laugh.

“Misguided. Wrong. But he was trying to do the right thing.”

She sighed. “I know. It doesn't make it any better.”

“You feel betrayed.” The subject of betrayal was one Sophie had been thinking about a lot lately.

“I worked with those people. Was friendly with those people. All this time, I helped them...” She was shaking now. “I'm so angry.”

She squeezed Maggie's arm slightly before dropping her hand.

“I just wish...” Maggie trailed off again, and Sophie could feel her thoughts overwhelming her ability to speak them.

“You feel as if you weren't given the opportunity to grieve properly because you didn't know the truth.”

“I hate them,” she said fiercely. “I hate them so much.”

“And Nate?”

“A little.”

“Understandable.”

Maggie hugged the pillow more tightly. “Sometimes I hear his voice. I'll turn, expecting to see him.”

Sophie, knowing the importance of touch, shifted until their arms were just barely brushing. “You probably always will.”

“Have you ever lost someone? Someone you loved so fiercely that you feel empty without them?”

“Once,” Sophie admitted, more honestly than she'd intended. “A long time ago.”

“Then you know?”

“I know,” she agreed.

“What did you do?”

“The same thing you did.”

“It's hard.”

“Yes.”

They lapsed into silence, and Sophie knew Maggie was thinking about Sam. Since silence was what she needed, Sophie remained quiet as the minutes passed. Maggie leaned a little closer to her, and Sophie let her warmth be a comfort.

It was close to ten minutes later when Maggie finally said, “Were you going somewhere?”

“Pardon?”

“You're up and dressed in the middle of the night.”

“Oh. Just for a bit of fresh air. To help me sleep.”

“Want some company?”

Sophie stood and smiled. “Yes, as a matter of fact.”

Maggie's face wasn't quite as shadowed as she smiled back.

“Before we go...” Sophie started.

“Yes?”

She went over to a table and tore a strip off of one of the sheets of paper Hardison had left there. Quickly, she scribbled on it before handing it to Maggie.

“What's this?” Maggie asked curiously.

“My number. In case you want to talk.”

She looked down at it and then back up at Sophie. “Thanks.”

“It will be nice to talk to someone about how much of an ass Nate's being who understands.”

This time, Maggie's laugh was more natural.

“Shall we?”

“Yes, I think we shall...And, Sophie, thank you. Not just for your number.”

“He should have told you.”

Maggie looked away, putting Sophie’s number in her pocket.

“I know there's not really an excuse for that.”

“I understand why he didn't. It's just going to take a little while for me to forgive him.”

Sophie nodded in understanding and they fell quiet again.

They spent almost an hour outside wandering around Hardison's grounds, mostly silent, and when they eventually came back inside they each felt a bit better. As unlikely as it seemed, they also returned as friends.


End file.
